The Kibitzer

A Second Dram of the Scotch Gambit

Last months column introduced the Scotch Gambit and looked at some of the minor lines. This article fills in the gaps by considering in detail the two main variations of the accepted gambit and also looked at the principal way of declining it (apart from transpositions to other openings). I regret that this article is not as detailed as I originally intended. Extensive building work at my home, forcing me to be away from my library for most of the past three weeks, has obliged me to write this column on a laptop without access to most of my usual sources. To compensate, I have posted a large file of Scotch Gambit games at my website for download in PGN or ChessBase format; you can see the URL for the game files at the end of this column.

The KibitzerTim Harding

To recapitulate briefly, the main line of the Scotch Gambit arises by 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 The best known modern grandmaster game in the variation is the following. E.Sveshnikov-V. Kupreichik, Hastings 1984 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4 Bc4 Bc5 5 c3 dxc3 6 Bxf7+ Kxf7 7 Qd5+ 7...Kf8 Black can also play 7...Ke8 when 8 Qxc5 Qe7 9 Qxe7+ Ngxe7 10 Nxc3 gives White an edge according to Sveshnikov and ECO. Also possible is the finesse 8 Qh5+ Kf8 9 Qxc5+ transposing to the game below, but an extra move made by eachfile:///C|/Cafe/Tim/kibb.htm (1 of 16) [08/11/2002 10:03:41 PM]

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player. 8 Qxc5+ d68...Qe7 has been recommended but gives White a pleasant choice, so Kupreichik's move is not clearly worse says GM William Watson, annotating this game some years ago in New In Chess. Now I am going to examine four principal variations A 5...dxc3 met by 6 Bxf7+; B 5...dxc3 6 Nxc3; C 5...d3; and D 5...d6

A: 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4 Bc4 Bc5 5 c3 dxc3 met by 6 Bxf7+ This was the line I played against Daschkevich in the game featured in last months column. 6 Bxf7+ is the obvious shot, it is usually recommended and is safe but I am unsure whether White gains a really significant advantage against best defence. In fact, I do not believe there is a great deal to be added to what I wrote on this variation last time. For an example of 8...Qe7 see my game with Dashkevich in last monthss Kibitzer column. I still think 9 Qxc3 is the best reply when a possibility not mentioned in the last article is 9...Nf6 10 Nbd2 Nxe4 11 Nxe4 Qxe4+ 12 Be3 with compensation for White (Panov & Estrin).After 8...Qe7 9 Qxc3 Qxe4+ 10 Be3, as in my game, expert opinions vary. White may have the value of his Pawn wrote Botterill; White has compensation says Watson; more than sufficient for White say Heyken & Fette. In the download database, White scores for more than the simplefile:///C|/Cafe/Tim/kibb.htm (2 of 16) [08/11/2002 10:03:41 PM]

Note that this position can arise via Goring Gambit (4 c3 dxc3 5 Nxc3 Bc5?! 6 Bc4) or Italian Game (3 Bc4 Bc5 4 d4?! exd4? 5 c3 etc) and the fact that it can also do so after an inferior move by Black is suggestive that the Scotch Gambit approach may be a promising sequence for White. 6...d6 This is almost invariably played although you will find in the database a few examples of other moves. If instead 6...Nf6 White can consider 7 e5 (or first 7 0-0) and if 7...Ng4 maybe 8 Bxf7+!? Kxf7+ 9 Qd5+ regaining thefile:///C|/Cafe/Tim/kibb.htm (5 of 16) [08/11/2002 10:03:41 PM]

Botterill was unconvinced. In his book Open Gambits (page 99) he sums up as follows: This is far from clear. All that one can say is that White has very free play for his pieces, whilst the pawn he has conceded plays no significant role for the time being.

8 Nd5This move commits White to a piece sacrifice that may be unnecessarily drastic. On the other hand, the calmer 8 00 may not give clear compensation although it is hard to be sure without highlevel practical tests. Botterill said in Open Gambits that 8 00 seems to preserve a dangerous initiative and he cited the following analysis by GM Schlechter in his edition of the Handbuch des Schachspiels:

play instead 8...Be6 9 00 00 10 b4 Bxd5 11 exd5 Nxb4 when 12 a3 was played in Mieses-Salwe, Karlsbad 1907 (01, 62) but 12 Rb1! (Euwe) with the idea a3 is very awkward for Black, say Heyken and Fette (and Botterill too). White also needs something against 8...h6!? because the Italian postal game Turati-Macchiagodena, 1992, saw Black win easily after 9 Bh4 g5 10 Nxg5? Nxd5. Since 10 Nf6+ does not seem to work, presumably White should have played 10 Bg3 and tried to exploit the dark-squared kingside weaknesses later on. Maybe 8...h6 is the crucial test of 8 Nd5 after all. 9 Bxf6 This was briefly discussed last month. 9...gxf6 10 Nxf6+ Kf8 11 Qc1! As I said last month, this Keres idea is close to winning for White. 11...Ng8 This is the critical move, and computers probably think it is good for Black, at least at first. Not 11...Kg7?? 12 Nh5+ and White mates in 3.Last month I gave an example of White winning after 11...h6? 12 Qf4 and there are two more games with that line in the database.

alternatives to the huge blunder at move 12. As I said last time, if 12...Bb4+, Botterill gave 13 Kf1 Qe7 14 Qf4+ Ke8 15 Ng5 Nh6 16 Nf6+ Kd8 17 Nd5 Qf8 (17...Qe5 18 Qh4) 18 Qh4 with decisive threats. The most difficult reply to refute would seem to be 12...Qe7 e.g. 13 Qf4+ Ke8 14 Bxg8 Rxg8+ 15 Nf6+ Kg8 when 16 Nxg8+ Kxg8 leaves Black with two minor pieces for a rook, while 16 Ng5 Kg7 is also very messy. Failing that, Blacks attention should focus on 8...h6 and 7...Qd7. It seems that 6 Nxc3 is a risky move for White, although the potential pay-off is Black goes wrong is greater than with 6 Bxf7+. C: 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4 Bc4 Bc5 5 c3 d3 This move, offering back the gambit pawn to slow Whites development, is sometimes recommended. There are over 180 examples of it in the download database. Yet it has never been played against me so I hesitate to offer any clear recommendations here. There are some similarities with the Evans Gambit line, 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 b4 Bxb4 5 c3 Ba5 6 d4 exd4 7 0-0 d3 but I would observe that here White is only one pawn down, which he will eventually recapture, and still has his b-pawn to advance. Therefore his chances must be better here than in the Evans. Evgeny Sveshnikov - Arshak Petrosian Soviet Union, 1974file:///C|/Cafe/Tim/kibb.htm (9 of 16) [08/11/2002 10:03:41 PM]

file:///C|/Cafe/Tim/kibb.htm (14 of 16) [08/11/2002 10:03:41 PM]

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16 Nf3 Qxf3 17 Bg5 The only move that is really new in the whole game. Later White looked in the books and found 17 Qg5 dxc3 18 Qf4 cxb2 19 Qxf3 bxa1Q 20 Qxg4+ Ke8 21 Be3 Walbrodt-Caro, 1897. 17...d5 18 cxd4 Qh3 19 Bf4 Qf3 20 Bg3 10 Finally, I have a little feedback. In the line 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4 Bc4 Be7 I wrote last time that If 4...Be7 5 c3!? Black must play 5...Nf6, 5...d6 or 5...d3. Acceptance of the second pawn by 5...dxc3?! walks into 6 Qd5 (threatening mate on f7) 6...Nh6 7 Bxh6 when Black must castle, losing a piece for assorted pawns. However, GM Karsten Mueller points out that After 7...0-0 8 Bc1 Nb4 9 Qd1 c2 Black wins the piece back. So 8 Nxc3 is probably best, but Black wins the piece back as well. Thor Lvholt (a Norwegian correspondence master) writes: I read your Kibitzer A Glass of Scotch and like it very much. I have played this variation at least 20 times after I read An Opening Repertoire for the Attacking Player by Raymond Keene and David Levy and I seldom lose in the variation with 4 Bc4 but I think the "best" way for black is 4...Nf6 5 0-0 Bc5. (I like a glass of Scotch as well, but not while playing...) Here is the URL for my page linking to the Scotch Gambit database, which is available in either PGN or new ChessBase archive (CBV) format: http://www.chessmail.com/games/freegames.html The database has over 1600 games of widely varying quality. It is only intended as source material and I do not guarantee the accuracy of all the data. These files will not befile:///C|/Cafe/Tim/kibb.htm (15 of 16) [08/11/2002 10:03:41 PM]

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available indefinitely; I will probably remove them in October.

My conclusion is that while the Scotch Gambit is an interesting sideline, there is no compelling reason to prefer 4 Bc4 to the strong move 4 Nxd4! Copyright 2002 Tim Harding. All rights reserved.